In Batroun, preliminary results indicated the victory of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM)-backed electoral list in the city while March 14 Forces were leading in most of the district’s towns.
A heated battle with a 53.5 percent voter turnout pitted FPM-backed incumbent mayor Marcelinio al-Hark against former MP Sayed Aql, who was supported by the LF, amid reciprocal accusations of vote buying and pressure against voters.
While the presence of FPM and Marada Movement partisans was obvious in the streets of Batroun with their supporters touring the city’s neighborhoods, no flags or slogans indicative of LF supporters were spotted by The Daily Star.
“Bassil has the right to file objections while the FPM gets all its money from Iran; we do not pay people because we have no money and we do not buy votes,” Aql said, a reference to the FPM’s alliance with Hizbullah, a close ally to Iran.
For his part, Bassil said that Batroun residents would vote against militias stressing that “it is not a secret who was responsible for provoking problems in Batroun.”
Batroun MP and LF official Antoine Zahra slammed Bassil for attempting to intimidate the city’s residents to win votes.
“Bassil who claimed that people were pressured to vote under the threat of arms should first break his alliance with the only Lebanese militia – that is Hizbullah,” he added.
In the village of Abrine, the FPM-backed list won against the LF list, exit polls showed.
